What were Newton's laws of motion?

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2022

Also, return to Maus: What were Newton's three laws of motion? We always thought they were these: 

1) What goes up must come down.

2) What goes around comes around.

3) The shortest distance between two points is almost never available.

On Tuesday night, our great niece said our account is basically correct, or words to that effect. She recently reported on the three laws for her fifth grade class. 

For a background report, click here.

Tomorrow, we return to something resembling normal activity. Topics have been piling up, including a return to Maus.


56 comments:

  1. Why recycle old stuff when there are so many new things happening?

    Newton is turning over in his grave.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Newton's Laws -- for the unwary:

    "In the first law, an object will not change its motion unless a force acts on it. In the second law, the force on an object is equal to its mass times its acceleration. In the third law, when two objects interact, they apply forces to each other of equal magnitude and opposite direction."

    Teaching young girls incorrect laws of physics is an unkind act, even if Somerby is just joking around. But ridiculing knowledge is nothing new at this blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree. Mr Somerby never tires of telling his readers, in total false humility, that he has no idea about things, despite having strong opinions.

      Delete
  3. Meh. Actually, the third one is: karma's a bitch.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "For a background report, click here."

    This link leads to the stuff about Michael Brown. How is that relevant to Somerby's niece? By the way, 5th grade is approximately 10 years old, like Virginia Bocelli. Did Somerby joke about his niece's report or did he say something encouraging? How does a 10 year old girl feel when her bachelor great uncle raves about a cute, pretty 10 year-old singing like an angel on TV after mocking her own science report? Sincerely hope he didn't do that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. “Sincerely hope he didn't do that.”

      This line is so representative of Anonymouse integrity and sincerity that it should written on their coat of arms.

      It should be emblazoned over the image of a mouse flying off a treadmill.

      Delete
    2. Just hoping Somerby’s tone deafness didn’t hurt a child’s feelings. We are adults here, but Somerby’s niece is a kid. Somerby can mock physics but he shouldn’t use a child’s project to do it.

      Delete
    3. Conversely, I am not hoping that you aren't using a child and lovely lighthearted humor in order to impugn a contrarian.

      You are. Without shame or reservation, you are.

      indubitably. You are.

      Delete
    4. What is funny about mocking a child’s work?

      Delete
    5. You and your lane accusation of it,

      Delete
    6. “Lane” is a typo and “lame” would have been a whitewashing of your intentions.

      Anonymices are a lesson.

      Delete
  5. Mice are serious.

    "“Maus” has long been a magnet for controversy. Critics took offense at the use of animal imagery to explore such a grave subject, and some said it was doubly offensive that Spiegelman drew Jews as mice, given that Nazi propaganda compared Jews to vermin — which was precisely Spiegelman’s point. "

    Cecelia, stop calling anonymous commenters here mice. It is part of a very bad Nazi tradition. If people on your side weren't so busy suppressing books like Maus, you might know that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete

    2. "Maus has been a magnet for controversy. Critics took offense at the use of animal imagery to explore such a grave subject, and some said it was doubly offensive that Spiegelman drew Jews as mice, given that Nazi propaganda compared Jews to vermin — which was precisely Spiegelman’s point. "

      Wow. But for parents of elementary school kids, Maus would illogically be an anti-Nazi Nazi to the left.

      He must be so thrilled that these Einsteins have their priorities in order.





      Delete
    3. Anonymouse 5:57pm, tell it to Disney.

      I’ll call you by a nym when you get one.

      Delete
    4. Middle school — no one teaches Maus in elementary school. Your sophistry over Nazi dehumanization of Jews is noted. Stop calling people here mice.

      Delete
    5. Cecelia, my official blogspot account nym is “Anonymous”. Note the correct spelling please.

      Delete
    6. Anonymouse, I’ll also give you the distinction of referring to you as “they”and “them”.

      Delete
    7. Anonymouse 6:23pm, what’s the hangup in teaching Maus in elementary school?

      Delete
    8. As if you know anything about child cognitive development.

      Delete
    9. Anonymouse 8:35pm, so what parameters are child cognitive experts like you objecting to when it comes to Nazi rodent tropes?

      Delete
    10. I object to you. You don’t know how any kids react to Maus.

      Delete
    11. Anonymouse 10:37pm, so tell me.

      Delete
    12. When you tell a child something they do not understand, it goes over their heads and they tend to ignore it.

      The comic book pictures in Maus are not going to mean anything to a young child, especially without explanation. They will not be shocked by the bathtub scene, because (1) they won't equate the mouse tits with human nudity, (2) they won't know what is going on in the scene, won't recognize that it is a suicide, may think the mouse was sleeping, may equate the mouse with a dead mouse caught in their own home, if that has happened to them before, (3) they won't know what the Holocaust was and will not recognize Nazi symbols, (4) they won't know that mice were being killed by Nazis, won't recognize that the mice are in captivity. They will find the comic uninteresting and boring, because it makes no sense to them and they don't know what it is about. When it makes no sense, they will stop reading it and prefer something they can relate to. You can leave Maus lying around on your coffee table at home and young children will not pick it up and read it despite its appearance as a comic book. It isn't in color, has no characters they recognize or relate to, cannot follow the story line and will quickly set it aside.

      In middle school, kids have developed the ability to consider multiple sets of meanings simultaneously. They can recognize sarcasm, have the ability to monitor several channels of behavior to both tell and recognize lies in others, can grasp double entendres (and make sexual ones endlessly) and they can interpret symbolism (when one object seems to have one concrete meaning at face value and yet stands for something else at the same time). That latter capacity is what gives them the ability to see that Maus is not just about a bunch of mice, but also stands for what happened to Jews during the Holocaust. Due to their ability to handle greater complexity, mentally, they can grasp that there are good people and bad ones, good things that have happened in our history and bad things, and not believe that all people are bad just because of encountering a shocking episode in life. That is why children's books gradually introduce greater reality into books for older children (above age 10). Black beauty is mistreated. Beth dies in Little Women. There are deaths in the Harry Potter books, and evil characters who do unspeakable things. The exposure to divorce, illness, poverty, discrimination, and other realities in middle school books, followed by the dystopian themes in young adult books, are intended to help children learn gradually to cope with the realities of adulthood. It doesn't harm children, it helps them.

      The old approach was to shield kids until adulthood, at which time, anything was fair game. That is a far more shocking experience, especially since adults may not be available to help young adults deal with revelations dumped on them all at once, plus the reality that adults have lied to them and their world isn't what they thought it was.

      Delete
    13. " I’ll also give you the distinction of referring to you as “they”and “them”."
      Perfect, since all your complaining about name usage is bullshit (like most things Right-wing gripes) anyway.

      Delete
  6. Anonymices won’t tolerate books with Nazi tropes being put off past junior high.

    It’s unconscionable.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is how lies are born.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah. It’s so targeted and intentional toward Somerby that cognitive dissonance is out of the question.

      Delete
    2. Don’t use big words that you can’t define.

      Delete
    3. By that, you mean the terms that anonymices won’t be allowed to define.

      Delete
    4. You have no clue what cognitive dissonance is.

      Delete
    5. Anonymouse 4:14pm gave the world a sterling example.

      Delete
    6. No, that is not what cognitive dissonance is.

      Cognitive dissonance definition: "the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change"

      "Cognitive dissonance theory postulates that an underlying psychological tension is created when an individual’s behavior is inconsistent with his or her thoughts and beliefs. This underlying tension then motivates an individual to make an attitude change that would produce consistency between thoughts and behaviors."

      None of this has anything to do with the way Cecelia used the term. She clearly doesn't know what it means and thus cannot apply it properly to what was said by anyone in this discussion.

      Delete
    7. 10:30,
      I get it. You mean like how Right-wingers pretended the problem they had with Hillary Clinton was her corruption, yet they're all in for a grifting, failed real estate developer from Queens.
      Or how they spout about "freedom", while they treat women like second-class citizens.
      Now that I think about it, the entire GOP "ideology" is based on cognitive dissonance. Except for the bigotry, of course.

      Delete
  8. “‘Twas well after Christmas
    and all thru Bob’s house
    everything was recurring,
    Like his crap on Maus…..”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He never mentioned Maus, Mr. McKuen.

      Delete
    2. Go back and read what Somerby said. He is revisiting Maus. That’s why he linked to the article about the Maus cartoonist.

      Commenting while drunk again? Not a good look for you.

      Delete
    3. I read that. What ”crap” on Maus has Somerby yet mentioned?

      In the meantime, anonymices have regaled us with allusions to Maus and Nazi tropes.

      Does that count for something?

      Delete
    4. “Topics have been piling up, including a return to Maus. Follow the link. No one is going to read it to you.

      Delete
    5. Cecelia, bless her heart, never actually reads Somerby. She just goes into knee jerk defense of Bob mode.

      Delete
    6. He wrote a lot about the controversy of
      it being a banned book and the angry comments of the writer. Try to keep up Cecelia.

      Delete
  9. Replies
    1. Anonymouse 9:15pm, has Maus erred in his depiction of Jews as being the mouse/rodent victims of Hitler or not?

      The parents of junior high kids objected to the very stark imagery portrayed by the book’s illustrations of a humanized nude mouse offing herself in a bathtub.

      On the other hand, liberals seem to think that the illustrations are right out of Hitler’s playbook.

      At what age would your cohort find Maus go be appropriate?

      Delete
    2. You obviously didn’t read the quote about why the comic depicted mice. The Nazis used to call Jews vermin (which refers to mice and rats).

      Parents didn’t object — conservatives did. If a kid can read Anne Frank’s diary, they can read Maus. Did you know Old Yeller dies at the end. So does Bambi’s mother, shot by hunters.

      Delete
    3. Genocide is horrible.

      Delete
    4. Anonymouse 10:33pm, I read this from an anonymouse and it’s pretty comical:

      “Mice are serious.”

      Your statement is right up there with it in the comedy department:

      “Parents didn’t object — conservatives did.”

      Anonymouse 4:14 went on to say:

      "“Maus” has long been a magnet for controversy. Critics took offense at the use of animal imagery to explore such a grave subject, and some said it was doubly offensive that Spiegelman drew Jews as mice, given that Nazi propaganda compared Jews to vermin — which was precisely Spiegelman’s point. "

      Anonymouse 6:23pm offered up this:

      “Middle school — no one teaches Maus in elementary school.”

      Get back to me when anonymices get your story straight.


      Delete
    5. This is the problem with using a nym. A pea-brain like Cecelia is going to look for consistency across statements. These few statements she has listed are consistent (do not contradict each other) but she pretends they are not. But even if they were inconsistent, different people write here as "anonymous." Why should all anonymous commenters agree with each other, given that circumstance?

      Then Cecelia says:

      "Anonymouse 4:14 went on to say:

      "“Maus” has long been a magnet for controversy. Critics took offense at the use of animal imagery to explore such a grave subject, and some said it was doubly offensive that Spiegelman drew Jews as mice, given that Nazi propaganda compared Jews to vermin — which was precisely Spiegelman’s point. "

      This is a quote right out of the NY Times article that Somerby linked to, not a statement by a commenter. Cecelia had accused the commenters of revisiting Maus, when it was Somerby himself who said he was going to revisit it. Cecelia pretended the commenters brought up Maus, claimed Somerby didn't do it, was told to re-read Somerby's post, obviously didn't, and came back with this quote, which she attributes to an anonymous commenter, not the article linked to by Somerby. And she never did address the content of the quote.

      This is what trolls do. Waste everyone's time and say nothing useful. If she weren't also saying ugly things about human beings, we could ignore her and let her flap her large mouth, much as occurs with Mao. The only person who talks to Mao is AC/MA.

      Delete
    6. Anonymouse 10:21am, as usual, you are context free…

      The piece quoted by the anonymouse concerned outrage over Jewish characters in Maus being portrayed as mice.

      The anonymouse quoted that material as a pretext for her demand that I stop calling anonymous posters “anonymouse” and “anonymices”. (BTW the pronunciation of anonymices is anon-a-meeces. As in
      “”I hate meeces to pieces”. Not that I do. I just the like rhyme.)

      After all that was said about parents who didn’t want their children exposed to that material at their age, you should have enough of a sense of irony to understand the humor in bringing up those other protesters in order to suggest that “anonymouse” is an antisemitic term.

      You should get that irony, but of course, you willfully won’t.

      Delete
    7. I'd assume Christopher Rufo is the one who has Cecelia bitching about Anonymouses on TDH, except that there are actually Anonymouses on TDH.

      Delete
    8. Yes, it concerned outrage over Jewish characters being portrayed as mice, but the author explained why he did that and it was because the Nazis used to call Jews vermin (mice and rats), so his comic called attention to the Nazi policy of dehumanizing its victims. It didn't victimize those people itself.

      You, Cecelia, are not satirizing Nazi tendencies. You are calling people you dislike animals, vermin, yourself. That makes you equivalent to the Nazis, not to Spiegelman.

      Calling anyone by a name they dislike and have not chosen is wrong. It is uncivil and hurtful. You do it to commenters and you do it to gender-divergent people and you do it to journalists trying to be respectful in ways that you are not yourself.

      There is no humor to what you are doing. Only meanness. It makes you look like a bad person. If you are not a bad person, you should care about that and change your behavior here. There is no irony to any of this.

      Delete
  10. There's a monkey in the jungle
    Watching a vapour trail
    Caught up in the conflict
    Between its brain and his tail

    And if time's elimination
    Then we got nothing to lose
    Please repeat the message
    It's the music that we choose

    OK bring it down yeah we gonna break out
    Get the cool!
    Get the cool shoeshine!
    Get the cool!
    Get the cool shoeshine!
    Get the cool!
    Get the cool shoeshine!
    Get the cool!
    Get the cool shoeshine!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Somerby is so eager to revisit the Michael Brown shooting, he should also address this:

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/29/2144348/-House-Sargent-At-Arms-told-J6-Committee-they-would-have-used-deadly-force-if-the-crowd-was-black

    This article shows cops lined up to protect DC from a George Floyd protest, and yet there was very little police presence at the 1/6 insurrection. Why?

    ReplyDelete
  12. The local newspaper broke the story about Santos's lies but was ignored by larger papers. Let's see what Somerby has to say about that media issue. My prediction is: crickets.

    "Months before the New York Times published a December article suggesting Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) had fabricated much of his résumé and biography, a tiny publication on Long Island was ringing alarm bells about its local candidate."

    ReplyDelete